Best-selling author and Alabama native Andy Andrews, who the New York Times hailed as “one of the most influential people in America,” is also one of the country’s most compelling speakers.
Mr. Andrews lived a relatively normal life until the age of 19, when both his parents died — his mother from cancer, his father in an automobile accident. After a series of poor choices made during this tragic period in his life, the young man found himself literally homeless, sleeping occasionally under a pier on the Alabama Gulf Coast or in someone’s garage.
At the end of his rope, Andrews asked himself a question: Is life just a lottery ticket, or are there choices one can make to direct his future?
In an effort to find the answer, Andrews read more than 200 biographies of great men and women. How did they become the people they were? Were they born that way, or were there decisions made at critical junctures in their lives that led to their success? The young Andrews finally determined that there were seven characteristics each successful person he studied had in common. The “Seven Decisions,” as he calls them, were the engines used to carry Andrews’ life in a different direction. And more than 20 years later, those same Seven Decisions became the outline for The Traveler’s Gift, a New York Times bestseller that catapulted Andrews into the spotlight as one of the country’s most influential authorities on leadership and decision making.
Mr. Andrews is now an internationally known speaker and novelist whose combined works have sold millions of copies worldwide. He has been received at the White House and has spoken at the request of four different U.S. presidents. He’s coached the CEOs of billion dollar corporations, top-tier college football coaches and the Special Operations Commander for NATO.
On top of that, he has become a highly sought after expert on parenting, which he frequently discusses on his “In the Loop” podcast.
Andrews has said he believes parenting influences culture more than anything else.
“I really believe parenting is the fulcrum our society tilts upon,” he said in a recent interview. “Really successful parenting is helping kids understand how to change something for their own reasons, and it will make total sense to them… When it comes down to what my dad said to me, ‘Because I said so. Because I’m your father.’ Well, that didn’t have anything in it for me. And when you say to a kid, ‘As long as you’re in my house…’ Well, subconsciously, or right up front, the kid thinks, ‘Well, I’m not always going to be in your house.’ So we’ve got to help people think better, because ultimately the thing that designs culture is our thinking.”
In the hilarious video above, Andrews recites the 50 most famous parental sayings, based off of his personal experience with his father, and as a father himself.
